Interns Discover Love of Gardening

Walking along Delaware Street, you may see a gravel pathway between the Humanities Council and The Joy of All Who Sorrow Church. If you were to follow that path, you would find sixteen raised beds, three rain barrels, and a compost bin pregnant with a very stubborn squash plant. Here, you have discovered the collaborative garden of Herron High School and the Indiana Humanities Council. And here, on this blog, you have discovered Audrey and Sara, the Herron interns currently responsible for the upkeep of this splendid urban garden.

The garden began in the spring of 2009 when Tyler and Laura Henderson, a couple very active in Indianapolis’s local food culture scene, installed a small plot for the Humanities Council. A year later, a partnership was formed between Herron High School’s garden club and the Council. Since then, the school, the Humanities Council, and the Hendersons have been working together to keep the garden weeded, staked, and watered. Our personal favorite task involves harvesting the delicious bounty, which so far has included basil, Swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, kale, parsley, radishes, and many chives (which we highly recommend putting in grilled cheese sandwiches).

Tired of chives with grilled cheese? Tried them nestled in a lettuce wrap, one of Sara’s favorite methods.

This year’s garden was planted in late April during an after-school two-hour garden mania that included an abundance of seeds, helpers, and (most fortunately) a Bazbeaux and cupcake dinner.

After the initial harvests, most of which has gone to students and employees of the Humanities Council, we are working on forming partnerships with local soup kitchens and food banks to which to donate the future produce.

Keep checking back for updates. For now, we will leave you with picture proof of our progress.